Altruista Health Welcomes Dr. Munish Khaneja as Chief Medical Officer

Altruista Health, Inc., an innovative provider of care management technology solutions for health plans and healthcare provider organizations, announced today that Munish Khaneja, MD, has joined the company as Chief Medical Officer. In this role, Dr. Khaneja will oversee clinical strategy and regulatory innovation across all products and services, and will work directly with Altruista Health clients to translate those innovations into clinical, operational and financial improvements.

Dr. Munish Khaneja brings extensive management and clinical experience to Altruista Health. Most recently, he served as Vice President of Clinical Effectiveness and Pharmacy at EmblemHealth, a large regional health plan serving more than 2.4 million members in New York and Connecticut. At EmblemHealth, Khaneja was responsible for Medical Management, Pharmacy and Behavioral Health divisions and was the corporate Clinical Lead for Population Health/Value Based Purchasing. His achievements at EmblemHealth included an extensive reorganization of Medical Management into an integrated care management model, leading a successful RFP of the PBM services that produced a large net savings for the plan, and strengthening the clinical behavioral health and clinical delegation oversight functions to provide Members with a highly coordinated and patient-centric care environment.

Prior to EmblemHealth, Dr. Khaneja served as the SVP and Chief Medical Officer of Affinity Health Plan, a regional health plan in the New York City area serving Medicaid, Medicare and Health Exchange populations. At Affinity, he managed Medical Management, Pharmacy Management and Quality Management, where he strengthened the Medical Management UM review process, established the pharmacy benefit coverage as a part of the state carve-in with over $250 million in annual spend and led the Quality Management team that brought the health plan into the top half of New York State’s quality rating.

In addition to his experience as a health plan executive, Dr. Khaneja has held numerous clinical and academic roles. He served as Lead Hospitalist at Kings County Health Center in Brooklyn, New York and Chief Medical Officer of the Greater Hudson Valley Health Center, a non-profit Federally Qualified Health Center (FQHC). He is also Assistant Professor of Medicine and Pediatrics at SUNY Downstate College of Medicine, and is a board member and advisor to numerous national organizations and corporations.

Dr. Khaneja graduated from Brooklyn College Summa Cum Laude with a degree in Chemistry and completed his MD from the SUNY Downstate College of Medicine. He is a Board-certified internist and also is certified in Medical/Healthcare Informatics from the Oregon Health Sciences University. He completed his Masters in Public Health from the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians.

“Dr. Khaneja has devoted his career to supporting safety net populations and the organizations that serve them in almost every clinical and executive capacity imaginable,” said Ashish Kachru, CEO of Altruista Health. “He possesses a deep, holistic understanding of the payer, provider and health information technology aspects of care management. Coupled with the fact that he has also been a customer of Altruista Health at Affinity Health Plan, the addition of Dr. Khaneja to our executive team will bring tremendous value to our clients.”

“In this era of value-based care, health plans, healthcare delivery systems and individual clinicians are taking on new responsibilities and serving patients in new capacities,” said Khaneja. “As the lines between these three blur, Altruista Health is positioned at the vanguard of this evolution, as our care management and care coordination solutions are highly adaptable to emerging payer-provider business models. We have an opportunity to help vulnerable populations lead healthier lives, and I’m excited to work closely with our clients to deliver on that promise.”

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Altruista Health delivers population health management solutions that enable health plans and care providers to improve outcomes and reduce barriers to care for their patients.